CHAPTER XXI.
BOARD OF HEALTH.
Sec. 336. Composition, organization, etc.
The Board of Health shall be composed of the City Physician,
who shall be the President of the Board, and one member of the
Council from each ward, one of whom shall be the Chairman of
the Committee on Streets and Sanitation.
Sec. 337. President of the board—his duties.
The President of the Board may convene it as often as he may
think proper; he shall preside at all meetings of the Board; sign
the minutes; make reports to the Council; correspond with other
boards of health, and do all other things necessary to facilitate
the Board in the proper and efficient exercise of its functions.
He shall keep a record of all births and deaths, issue burial
permits, keep records of all sickness reported to him by the physicians
of the city, and shall make a summary of all reports submitted
to him by the practicing physicians, as required of them
by section 348, and submit the same to the Council at each regular
monthly meeting. He shall also report to the Council any
physician who may fail to make his monthly report, as required
by section 348 of these ordinances.
Sec. 338. Monthly and annual reports.
The Board of Health shall report to the Council monthly the
sanitary condition of the city, and shall further consider and report
upon such matters as may be referred to them by the Council,
or upon which they may deem it expedient to report. Annually,
on or before the 15th day of August, the Board of Health
shall report to the Council the amount of all expenditures and
for what purpose made during the previous fiscal year, also an estimate
of the appropriation necessary for the ensuing year, together
with such other matters and suggestions as they may deem
appropriate.
Sec. 339. Injurious fruit, fish, etc.
The Board of Health shall have power, whenever they deem
it necessary for the preservation of the health of the citizens, to
prohibit the sale of fruits, fish and other articles which they may
consider injurious; and they may, from time to time, recommend
to the Council the adoption of such regulations as they
may think necessary for the public health.
Sec. 340. Removal of the sick.
The Board of Health is hereby empowered to order the removal
of all persons afflicted with any contagious disease, provided
proper isolation cannot be maintained at place of sickness,
to some safe and proper place within the jurisdiction of the corporation,
when in their opinion, the public safety and the health
of the city require the same; to rent a suitable place for their
comfort and accommodation; to hire nurses and provide the necessaries
for such as are in indigent circumstances.
Any person, either parent, guardian, master, mistress, or owner
of the house, where such disease may be (or the disease themselves,
when responsible persons) refusing to comply with the
order of the Board of Health, through its president or other
authorized agent, shall be fined $2 per hour during the time of
such refusal to comply with the order aforesaid, to be recovered
by warrant before the Police Justice, as other fines of the city.
Provided, nothing in the foregoing shall be construed to prevent
the friends and relatives of the diseased aforesaid from removing
them to places prepared by themselves when such places are
approved by the Board of Health, nor to authorize them to remove
any subject, at a period of the disease, when the life would
be endangered thereby.
Sec. 341. Quarantine.
Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Mayor that
a malignant or contagious epidemic disease prevails, it shall be
his duty, with the advice of the Board of Health, to quarantine
against the introduction of said disease in the city, and make
such regulations for the preservation of the health of the inhabitants
of the city not inconsistent with existing laws, as they
deem necessary or expedient to carry into effect the object of this
section.
Sec. 342. Infected houses.
When the Board of Health shall be of the opinion that any
house in which an infected person or thing has been, should be
cleansed or purified to prevent the spreading of disease, the
Mayor, at its instance, shall order the same to be done by the
occupant of such house, or if the latter, by reason of poverty be
unable to do it, the Mayor shall cause the same to be done at the
expense of the city. For failure to comply with the order of the
Mayor within 48 hours, the person so offending shall pay a fine
of not less than $5.
Sec. 343. Inspection of streets, premises, etc.
The Board of Health shall cause to be inspected all streets,
cellars, yards, lots, privies, and other places which may be alleged
to be, or likely to become, offensive. They shall also cause
the inspection of the premises of all citizens to be made by the
police of the city at least once in each quarter, and oftener, if
necessary, and to require all garbage, trash, filth, ashes, tin cans
and all other articles that may endanger the health of the
city to be removed. It shall be the duty of all police officers to
observe at all times the sanitary condition of their districts, and
to report promptly to the Board of Health, through the Chief of
Police, any nuisance or accumulated filth found to exist in any
part of the city. When any such thing shall be found, which, in
the opinion of the Board, is, or is likely to become, injurious to
health, the Board shall give notice thereof to the Mayor, who
shall require the person causing said nuisance, or the owner or
occupant of the premises on which such thing is, to correct the
evil forthwith in such manner as the Mayor may deem expedient;
and should such person fail to execute the order of the
Mayor, the said nuisance may be removed at the cost of the city
and such cost, with 20 per centum additional by way of penalty,
may be collected of such persons.
Sec. 344. Sanitary policeman.
In order to more effectually carry out the ordinances with regard
to the health and cleanliness of the city, the Mayor is
hereby authorized, at the request of the Board of Health, to
designate one of the regular policemen or appoint a special policeman,
who shall be known as the Sanitary Inspector, whose
duty it shall be to make a careful inspection of the premises of
all public buildings of the city, and of all other buildings, residences
or places of business, cellars, grounds or other appurtenances
thereto, which are required by the health laws of the city
to be kept in a cleanly and healthy condition; and to serve notice
upon the occupants thereof to abate or remove any nuisance
which he may find existing thereon. He shall be subject to the
orders and under the control of the Board of Health and shall
serve for such length of time as said Board may deem necessary.
Inspection shall be made quarterly or oftener, if deemed necessary
by the Board of Health.
Sec. 345. Inspection of watershed and reservoir.
The Board of Health shall thoroughly inspect the reservoir
and the watershed and streams of the city's water supply twice
yearly, or oftener if it shall be deemed necessary, and make report
in writing to the Council.
Sec. 346. Removal of garbage, trash, etc.
The Board of Health, through its president, shall have the
power, which is hereby granted, to order and direct the Street
Commissioner, or the foreman of the garbage wagons, as the
case may be, to have removed in the manner prescribed by the
various laws of the city in these cases made and provided, all
garbage, trash, refuse matter or any other like articles that may
be placed upon the sidewalks by the citizens for removal by the
city wagons.
Sec. 347. Responsibility of street commissioner or foreman.
The Street Commissioner, or foreman (if there be no Street
Commissioner), shall promptly obey all orders of the Board of
Health; and when such are given him in writing, by the Board
through its president, if he shall fail to perform said duty assigned
him, for a longer period than twenty-four hours after
receiving the same, he shall be fined $1 per hour for every hour
thereafter that he shall so refuse or neglect the same unless a
reasonable excuse be given.
Sec. 348. Physicians to make report monthly, etc.
The Board of Health shall have prepared suitable blank forms
to be furnished to the several practicing physicians of the city,
on which, at the close of each month, they shall make a full report
to the Board of Health of all births, deaths (including cause),
cases of disease and accident, and all other matters relevant to
the health of the city. Any physician failing to comply with the
provisions of this section shall be fined not less than $5 for each
offense.
Sec. 349. Additional physicians in case of severe epidemic.
In the case of an epidemic of any severe contagious or infectious
disease occurring in the city, the Board of Health is hereby
authorized to employ such additional physicians for such length
of time as may be necessary to protect the health of the city and
to control such disease, and shall fix the rate of compensation
to be paid for such service, subject to the approval of the Council.
Sec. 350. Supervisory duties over sanitary laws, etc.
It shall be the duty of the Board of Health and each member
thereof, to exercise a general supervision over the persons, matters
and things mentioned in the chapter on "Sanitary Laws,"
and to see that the ordinances of the city contained therein are
properly obeyed and executed, and to report any violation thereof
by private parties, or nonfeasance or misfeasance on the part of
any officer or employee of the city in his duties under said chapter.
